Chapter 54
The further the young people and the struthiomimus traveled, the cooler the air felt and the forest became heavily populated with aspens and evergreen trees. The land grew rougher, the hills steeper, and the rocks seemed to get bigger and more frequent.
After the second day of travel, Jamin pointed out a beautiful place to stop for lunch. A ribbon of rushing water twisted its way down a steep ravine, tumbling over boulders, cascading in a stair step pattern. It was nearly hidden by the giant rocks towering on either side of it.
The cadets climbed to the top of a particularly huge boulder, bigger than the back of a full grown triceratops, and spread out their lunch on its flat surface.
"It's like a table for the big dinosaurs." Fira said, peering over the edge. Her eyes looked more gold than brown, as luminous as the flame of a candle.
Taddeo tugged her back. "And if you fall, this whole trip will be ruined."
"I was being careful." Fira retorted as she settled back down with the rest of her friends. Lotus stood beside her, munching on the handfuls of ferns Fira had picked for her.
Tristan ate as quickly as he could so that he could sketch a little before everyone was ready to set out again. He'd made a resolve to sketch whatever he could so that he could show Twilight and Dark Wing when he returned. He drew the big rocks, the trees that smelled so good, and the small waterfall that roared lightly in their ears. Before he could finish though, the others were ready to go again.
"Can't we stay just a little longer?" Tristan begged.
"No." Mathias said. "Just in case you forgot, this isn't just a pleasure hike. We've got an important destination in mind."
"I don't see any harm in staying here a little longer." Jamin ventured as he gazed about the scenery. "This is so different than anything I ever saw back in the desert lands."
"Yeah." Taddeo added. "I don't see what the rush is all about."
Mathias rolled his eyes. "I thought the reason would be obvious. It's because the sooner we make it up to the Tentpole of the Sky, the sooner we can return to Canyon City and become Apprentice Riders." Mathias surveyed the others with a derisive look on his face. "Am I the only one missing my skybax partner?"
"Of course not." Fira said sharply. "We all miss them. Just because we're choosing to enjoy the scenery of this trip doesn't mean we're not serious about becoming Riders. In fact, I know that Swift would want me to enjoy myself no matter where I am and I expect the same with her. Yes, we miss each other terribly, but I expect her to still enjoy her life while we are apart."
Taddeo couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes. "That's wonderful, Fira. With that perspective in mind, I think you're going to be a great Rider."
"Thanks, Tadd." The girl said, dropping her gaze momentarily.
"Well I'm going to keep going anyway." Mathias grumbled and climbed back down the rock. The others followed, so Tristan reluctantly stuffed his things back into his pack and followed the others. Even though the rock was steep along its side, there were so many broken places and grooves in it that climbing down seemed fairly easy. However, Mathias and Taddeo both offered to assist Fira, but she merely surveyed their helpful gestures with disdain.
"Since when did I all of the sudden need help with everything?" She said, letting go of the rock and jumped the last few feet down to the ground, landing deftly on her feet. "How do you think I manage flying with a skybax?" She added, giving the boys a defiant look.
"I was just trying to be nice." Mathias explained while Taddeo turned away, grumbling, "Well so much for trying to be a gentleman."
He spoke quietly, but Fira still heard him and merely laughed in response. "You—a gentleman? Tadd, what's gotten into you? And Mathias? Just 'trying to be nice'? You guys are ridiculous! Don't tell me you're trying to become one of those awfully proper, doughy faced, moon eyed, poetry spouters."
Tristan and Jamin exchanged amused glances. Jamin covered up his laughter by pretending to cough and Tristan just lifted his head to stare up at the treetops, hiding his grin. So this was it. The two boys both liked Fira and the clash was beginning now that they were all on this journey together. This was either going to make the journey amusing or more difficult. Tristan hoped that it would just remain amusing.
Taddeo's dark eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That's your interpretation of a gentleman?"
Fira tossed her hair aside. "Yes."
Taddeo looked baffled and for once didn't seem to know what to say in response.
Mathias knew what to do though. "Fine then. Have it your way. The opposite of a gentleman is a rogue." He yanked Fira's brown pony tail as he pushed past her to walk in the lead—Fira's favorite place to be.
Fira grumbled something incoherently, but let the other boy take the lead for the time being while she dropped back, keeping company with Lotus, who was fast becoming a close friend. Lotus surveyed the others quietly, then turned and gave the girl a sympathetic look.
After awhile of travel in silence, Fira informed everyone that the further they traveled upward, the evergreen trees would soon be the only ones and the easier it would be to get lost.
"So how do you know all this?" Mathias asked.
"My father told me." She said. Suddenly her eyes grew wide. "I mean…yeah."
Tristan knew exactly why she seemed rattled since he'd figured out the secret that her father was none other than the mighty Master Pilot, Will Denison. Determined to be better at keeping his friends' secrets though, he said nothing.
"So you're father's been on this path before?" Mathias pressed.
"Well…in the Forbidden Mountains. Yes." She said.
Before the other cadets could question her further, Tristan decided to quickly change the subject for Fira's sake. He stopped short and pointed toward a grove of glittering aspens. "Whoa! What was that?"
The other cadets stopped, taking note of his startled tone, and looked to the direction he was pointing in. Lotus gave Tristan puzzled look, then shook her head and grunted, wondering why the boy was pointing at nothing.
After a moment of silence, Taddeo spoke up. "Um, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Only trees and rocks."
"Yeah." Mathias added. "Nothing scary, that's for sure."
"What did you think you saw?" Jamin asked.
Tristan shrugged. "Not sure. I guess it was nothing."
Mathias grinned. "Probably just a glimpse of a sabertooth darting away."
"Oh, come on." Fira rolled her eyes.
"One that's been following us this whole time." Mathias added with an evil chuckle.
Jamin lightly clocked his friend on the head with his walking stick. "Shut up, Mathias."
Mathias rubbed the back of his head, but was still grinning. "Hey, it was Tristan that brought it up in the first place."
"Now wait a minute. It was you who mentioned the sabertooth. Not me." Tristan said. "I just thought I saw something different, that's all. It was probably just a bird. All these mountain creatures are new to me, you know? I've never been in the Forbidden Mountains before."
The young people continued on. There was an abundance of delicate grasses and flowers along their path and they often crossed over sparkling little streams of water which tripped mirthfully over glittering stones. Sometimes they stopped and refilled their water canteens, amazed at how cold the water was. It numbed their fingers when they washed their hands in the water. As a result, every time they crossed a stream, it became a game to splash whoever seemed to be daydreaming, and everyone would laugh at the person who howled as the icy water sprayed against any exposed skin.
Taddeo bent down once and plucked one of the delicate forest flowers. He twiddled the stem in his hands for moment, glancing toward Fira. The girl noticed him looking her way and quickly dropped her gaze.
Mathias snatched a handful of flowers and pushed it into the girl's hand. He winked merrily and threw and smirk over in Taddeo's direction. "Here." He said to Fira with a wink. "You didn't mention flowers in your hated list earlier."
"Well, thanks, I guess." She said, looking down at the mess of flowers. Some of them were missing petals and the stems were uneven after being pulled so violently from the ground. "But I don't know what I'll do with them since we're traveling."
"Just hold them until they wilt." Mathias said. "Then toss them aside and I'll find you some more."
Taddeo dropped the single flower he'd picked and crushed it beneath his boot as he continued walking up the path. He didn't see that Fira glanced behind her just in time to see what he'd done.
Fira reached out to Lotus and gave her the flowers. "I'll bet these would make a tasty snack for you."
Lotus happily gobbled down the flowers before Mathias even noticed where they'd disappeared to.
It wasn't long before Lotus kept glancing around, sniffing the wind, and looking anxious. When Fira conversed with her, she turned to the rest of the cadets. "Well, Lotus says that rain is coming."
Taddeo stopped and looked up at the sky through the treetops. "I guess it is a little overcast, but it doesn't feel like rain."
"I would trust the dinosaur's judgment though." Jamin said.
It wasn't long before the wind picked up and the cadets' new concern was to find shelter, preferably one large enough for all of them to fit under and stay dry. Just as darkness was settling over the woods, Lotus discovered the perfect spot; a rocky overhang in the side of a steep hill. None of the cadets were too eager with the idea of checking out the shadowy space, so she volunteered to explore it, using her excellent sense of smell.
The cadets watched as she emerged from the dark looking hole, relieved to see her all clear signals and chirping at them that it was safe to make camp. They hurried to gather dry pieces of wood, but the wind, which seemed much colder than before, brought with it a smattering of rain. They had to quickly get under the shelter, discovering that it was a little cramped for all five of them and a struthiomimus.
They quickly discovered that they couldn't build a fire because the wind blew the smoke into the small space, choking them. Tristan was tempted to pull out his sunstone to offer light to everyone, but wasn't keen on the idea of them all finding out he had one. As a result, they all spent a dark and damp night beneath the shelter while the rain increased to a steady downpour.
The cadets huddled together beneath the rocky overhang, cramped in the confined space, chilled by the dampness in the air, and feeling discouraged. Tristan was secretly relieved for the rest, even if the space was cramped. Taddeo tried to cheer everyone by telling stories, but as the cold rain got heavier with no signs of letting up, everyone grew increasingly grumpy. To make matters worse, Lotus informed them that the rain was only going to keep coming for now and that the creeks would rise and some of the crossings would not be accessible and that they would have to be extra careful when traveling again and possibly detour some of them.
Tristan lay in the dark, listening to the rain. His arm ached from another long day of carrying the heavy pack on his shoulders. He realized that in the darkness, it wouldn't matter if he took his shirt off to rub the oils in his arm, but in these cramped quarters, someone would for sure smell them and then he'd be teased relentlessly. He really didn't want to have to hear any more of Mathias's jabs about him being a weakling and barely hanging on through training with impending failure in his future. Finally, after much tossing and turning, he decided to risk it. After all, it sounded as if the other tired cadets were sound asleep. All he could hear was the falling rain, the splashing sound of drips at the edge of the rock overhang, the heavy breathing of Taddeo on his right, and the struthiomimus's light whistling snoring on his left.
Quietly, he rolled over and reached for his backpack which he'd positioned just behind his head, and after some quiet fumbling, he found the small pouch that held the sunstone. He barely pulled it away from the cloth, only allowing a small beam of light to escape so that there was just enough light for him to find the desired oil mixture from Elora. He kept pausing every so often, hiding the light, checking for any signs of restlessness among the others, but so far everyone seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Finally, he rubbed the oils into his arm, grateful for the soothing feel of the peppermint penetrating into his sore muscles. The hint of lavender mixed with the woody smells of Frankincense, made him feel sleepy finally, and after putting everything back into his pack, he drifted off to sleep, the familiar smell of the oils making him think of the infirmary back at Canyon City, Twig, Sabra, and Elora.
Fira awoke, shivering and wishing she'd worn the warmer set of clothes she'd brought along for the journey. She was lying as far away from the others as possible. She blinked in the darkness, trying not to imagine what kind of bugs might be hiding in the crevices of the rocks. Bugs that would creep out just as soon as she relaxed enough to sleep and they would crawl all over her and bite. She shuddered, and Lotus who was huddled next to her, filling the gap between her and Tristan, lifted her head for a moment, blinking sleepily. She could sense the girl's restlessness.
Fira rolled over. Bugs. How ridiculous she was. It was probably too cold for them anyway. She shivered and pulled her blanket tighter around herself, but it just didn't seem warm enough against the rainy chilled air. She hadn't imagined that the mountains would be so cold so soon. They weren't even high enough to see snow yet. But her mind went back to the last message Lotus had scratched into the dirt; "Expect early cold to the mountains." Fira shivered again. She could hear the heavy breathing of the other cadets and she soon realized that the rhythmic rumble she was hearing was not a distant rumble of thunder. Someone was snoring and it sounded like it was coming from the further end of the cramped space. Probably Jamin or Mathias, she decided, knowing that they were occupying the space the furthest away from her.
Then, much to her dismay, Lotus got up, and by the sounds of it in the darkness, she was squeezing her way between a couple of the other cadets near the center of the small space where it was the warmest and she could draw from their body heat on either side of her. Now Fira was alone on the far end with a wide space between her and the first cadet, which happened to be Tristan.
Fira realized then, that she would not be warm enough unless she did as Lotus, and curled up closer to the others, but she cringed at the thought of sleeping in the middle of a pile of stinky, drooling, snoring, boys. Taddeo had been right. Earlier as they'd all made up their pallets, she'd made a point to put hers on the far end furthest away from the others. Taddeo warned her that she'd get too cold there, but she'd brushed off his warning, loudly announcing that she'd rather sleep on a bed of ice than next to a bunch of stinky boys.
As she lay there in the darkness, just cold enough that sleep wouldn't come, she realized that in order to have the energy she needed the next day for traveling, she was going to have to get some sleep, and in order to do this, she was going to have sleep closer to the others. Earlier, just before everyone went to sleep, Lotus, in her limited amount of human words, mixed with her saurian ones, had referred to them all as a cozy nest of hatchlings and teased Fira about being the one rolling out of the nest.
Fira drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders tightly, dreading the fact of having to cuddle up to any of the boys for warmth. Though she'd already contemplated each one of them before, thinking that they were each cute in their own way, she wasn't going to reward any of them by telling them so.
Jamin had smooth looking brown skin, a fine straight nose, big black eyes, a wide smile full of bright white teeth, and a simply adorable mop of black curls on his head. But he was obviously blown away with Elora, so Fira respected him for that and always kept her distance.
Taddeo was hilarious and fun and his small black mustache and snip of a beard gave him a nice mature look that counteracted his fun loving nature. She smiled in the darkness, secretly delighted that he was supposedly drawn to her even though she was so much younger than him.
Then there was Mathias who shared her interest in the daring side of life and yes, he was irresistibly good looking with his well combed sandy brown hair, a strong build, and a nicely chiseled face, but the problem was that he knew it, and openly flirted with about any girl that crossed his path. If he weren't so arrogant so much of the time, she would be more tempted to allow herself to get closer to him.
The girl's thoughts drifted to Tristan next. He was nearly as arrogant as Mathias, but she'd noticed that as time passed through training, he managed to keep his fiery nature, but calm the arrogant side. She was catching glimpses of his sensitive side, and rather than viewing it as weakness, she felt like it was a different kind of strength in disguise. Tristan was not as tall as the other guys, and not as buff as Mathias, but he was wiry and quick and considering some of the obstacles he'd faced, he'd shown that he possessed a lot of determination and willpower. She realized she had grown to like that tight little smile of his and the starry glint in his eyes when he was obviously considering carrying out an action that might be frowned upon by others. Just thinking about snuggling up to him for warmth made her cheeks flush and she was glad that it was dark right now and everyone else was apparently sleeping. She realized that out of all these fine young men, if she chose to become a closer friend to Tristan, her father would probably flip. She knew that Tristan was the cadet who had tried his patience beyond what he thought he was capable of. Not only that, Tristan was teetering on a dangerous path tampering with the wilder creatures of Dinotopia.
Fira finally makes her choice. Shivering and keeping her blanket wrapped over her shoulders, she crawled over the empty space that Lotus left. Sniffing cautiously, she realized that someone didn't smell too bad after all. As she cautiously pushed her way in between Tristan and Taddeo, she turned her head toward Tristan, realizing that he was the one who smelled so nice. Neither one of the guys woke up, much to her relief. She could feel the warmth of the two boys on either side of her and finally she felt warm enough to drift back to sleep. She hoped that her father would never ask too many details of how she survived this journey.
